Greenpaw tried to enter quietly, as to not disturb Coralclaw or her kit. But the nursery was small – sounds and smells alike echoed throughout the interior, quicker than fire.
"Beachflower isn't here," Coralclaw hissed, her fur bristling and ears flat against her head. Shrimpkit was tucked closely to her belly, resting quietly. Coralclaw wrapped her tail around him protectively.
"I know," Greenpaw mewed, settling herself just inside the entrance, as far away from Coralclaw as the nursery would allow. Greenpaw settled with her paws underneath her. "I was hoping you'd let me apologize to you."
Greenpaw had decided an outright apology for calling Coralclaw an old furball would probably be the best plan of attack. She could get to know her after the she-cat didn't want to claw her ears out.
Coralclaw said nothing, nor did she relax her defensive position. But she wasn't hissing anymore, and Greenpaw thought that to be a good sign. "I insulted you when we first met. I was wrong. And I am sorry."
Greenpaw listed all that she worked out with Sunpaw. She hoped that would be enough. She worked hard, preparing her apology – short, sweet, and to the point. Even Sunpaw reassured Greenpaw that iher apology should be enough to make the grumpy she-cat listen, at the very least.
"Shrimpkit has fourteen brothers and sisters, you know." Coralclaw mewed suddenly. Greenpaw looked up into the queen's dark green eyes. They were rounded with grief, and the young she-cat suddenly looked much older. Exhausted. "Besides the three kits I lost with his litter."
Greenpaw nodded, unsure of where this was going. The sadness in Coralclaw's mew made Greenpaw very uncomfortable. Greenpaw flicked her tail uncertainly.
"All of them were stillborns. Shrimpkit is my only baby to survive." Coralclaw looked away, gazing at something unseen. "Eleven kits, born dead. I thought I was cursed. Cursed to bring death where life should have been. Six litters, it took me to be blessed with Shrimpkit. And many painful seasons."
Greenpaw could swear she felt her heart slow. The queen looked so unsettled, so pained. But she went on. "I never thought I'd know happiness. I felt doomed. I felt unworthy. I felt alone."
Greenpaw opened her mouth, but closed it again. She hid her muzzle beneath a paw. She could practically feel the guilt radiating from Coralclaw. Coralclaw swiveled her head, and met Greenpaw's eyes.
"And then Shrimpkit was born. By some grace out of my control, I was blessed with a living piece of me. And I can't help but to think it was this entity that Twilightstar shares about so often; I can't help but to feel rewarded by StarClan for my kit." Coralclaw stopped, but Greenpaw had no response. Coralclaw didn't seem to be looking for one. "It took me many painful seasons to accept that it wasn't my fault. I couldn't have done anything different to save my kits. It took me many, many seasons to come here, to feel acceptance, and realize that I'm not stupid. I'm not even old. And furball I may be, but I was good enough for StarClan to grant me my love."
Greenpaw had to fight her instinct to drop her eyes, and tried to match Coralclaw's steadily. All was silent, until Shrimpkit woke up, his little crooked tail wobbling feebly as he pawed his mam's belly. Coralclaw instantly dropped her eyes to her kit, and licked the top of his little head. And suddenly, Greenkit could see Coralclaw's fear and guilt replaced by a new emotion: love. Pure joy radiated from her, and she began to purr as Shrimpkit suckled.
Greenpaw lifted her head, and Coralclaw looked to her once more, the love and affection still there.
"He's a beautiful kit," Greenpaw mewed softly, meeting the queen's eyes. "With the best mam he could ask for."
Coralclaw blinked with recognition, and turned her attention back to her kit, mewing softly to him as he fed. Greenpaw stood up to her paws slowly, and slipped out of the nursery.
The sun was was low enough to be hidden by the Dunes, and the sea air was much cooler than it had been when she finally bucked up the courage to apologize to Coralclaw. Greenpaw was sniffing the air of the camp, the sea lavender of the nursery still strong enough to envelope her nostrils, when she realized Coralclaw had not actually formally accepted her apology. But she had accepted much more, and Greenpaw knew it was more than enough.
Greenpaw padded to the center of the camp, and took in her surroundings. The late day sun cast long shadows around the camp, but cats were still bustling about. Reedtail, the cat she had called a mouse-brained old coot, turned out to be not very mouse-brained at all – after sharing tongues with him, she realized that he had quiet, quick wit, not unlike Tidepaw. Right now, he was with Sharkpaw and Tidepaw, off to the side of the camp, showing them the correct way to arch their paws when watching fish in the Saltmarsh. She could see him dipping his paw shallowly into the air, mimicking the difficult flow of movement Greenpaw hadn't even begun to master yet.
Stormrush and Sandflame, both beautiful tortoiseshell cats, Stormrush blue-and-cream, and Sandflame ginger-and-brown, were sharing tongues outside the warrior's den, pelts shining in the last orange wisps of the sunset against the cliffside.
The fresh-kill pile seemed fairly full but abandoned, the pile actually a small hole dug in the corner of the camp, sheltered by a jutting side of the cliff, in-between Twilightstar's den and what should be the elder's den.
Greenpaw had not expected any cats that joined SaltClan to be elders. Not truly. Most cats of the Clifflands didn't make it to old age; sickness or hunger often overtook them. Pearlpelt had cared for many cats, but she could not force all of them to come to her, nor could she make it to them, for whatever reason she wouldn't leave her cave. Old cats sometimes couldn't make the journey, and when sickness befell them, hunger soon followed. Even if they weren't sick, older cats couldn't hunt for themselves past certain ages.
And so, there were very, very few cats old enough to be considered elders. Seaheart seemed close, but Greenpaw had never asked him how many moons he had. Sometimes, she thought he actually might be a young cat, his age appearing older due to his wisdom. At the same time, Greenpaw thought mostly that his high spirit just made him seem younger.
Greenpaw looked around for Seaheart, but couldn't spot him. He was probably out on a patrol – Hollowclaw and Frogleg were missing as well. She didn't see Riverpaw, or Twilightstar, and assumed she had taken him out to train. Greenpaw ignored the barb of jealousy that pierced her heart. She really did like training with Seaheart – she felt honored to have such a strong, mindful mentor, and was pleased with his unorthodox teaching methods. But she couldn't help but to feel so separated from Twilightstar, a cat she once felt something of kinship with. Greenpaw hardly saw the she-cat anymore, and that was a hole that couldn't be otherwise filled.
Sunpaw and Sunstream were both missing as well, either out on the patrol or, more likely, catching shrimp. Sunpaw had mentioned over shared tongues that Shellstream was taking her out to practice today. Greenpaw remembered wishing she could go, but she still had cats to get to know.
Like she did now. Riverpaw was nowhere to be seen, and so Greenpaw begrudgingly began to head over to Pearlpelt's den. She had truly wanted to save the best for last and end her day on a good note, rather than a sour one with Riverpaw.
A small voice in the back her mind whispered, what if he turns out to be all right, too? But, as determined to hate him as she was, she ignored the voice.
She was just at the entrance of Pearlpelt's deep, dark den when a blur of gray tabby pelt with darker gray patches whisked by her line of vision. Greenpaw's eyes narrowed. Riverpaw.
"Help!" the young tomcat yowled, his mew dripping with fear. Greenpaw whipped around, her mission and her distaste forgotten, to see the cat, who seemed strangely small, alone in the center of the camp with his fur bristling and tail lashing. "It's Twilightstar! She's caught in the Coralreefs!"
There was instant panic laced throughout the camp. Beachflower had been leading her kits back to the nursery, and now stood frozen a fox-length from the entrance. All the cats stood paralyzed and silent for a moment, until Reedtail yowled a painful beckoning, jumping from the apprentices, and darting out of the camp.
Sandflame and Stormrush sprang apart, looking at one another with fear, and followed Reedtail with their tails lashing.
Greenpaw stood, still stuck with fear, when Riverpaw moaned, "I warned her the tides were too intense! A riptide took her! Oh, Twilightstar!"
He began to scratch at the ground, arching his back in frustration. Greenpaw leapt up out of her uncertainty and fear and bounded over to him, skidding to a stop. "How far out is she?"
"I couldn't see her," he whispered, his blue eyes shining with pain and loss. "She was completely under! I couldn't get to her!"
"We have to go see if we can help, Riverpaw! Come on!" Greenpaw yowled out to the other apprentices. "Sharkpaw! Tidepaw! They need our help!"
Greenpaw turned to the entrance, but stopped as Pearlpelt called out, "Wait! You need herbs."
Greenpaw turned again, flustered, and darted to the medicine cat's den. "This is stinging nettle. Once she is out of the water, there will be plenty of water in her lungs and stomach. This will help expel it." She dropped a large leaf with pokey fronds to Greenpaw's paws. "This is hog plumb. After she is done vomiting, feed this to her. It'll stop the convulsions, relieve some pain and cleanse her body of infectants. That'll tide her over until you get her to me." She pushed a leaf wrapping some sort of pulp. "Hurry."
Greenpaw scooped up the plants with little care, turned, and followed the tails of the other apprentices down and around the cliffpath. She watched the pelts of cats only slightly larger than her jump into the waves, swimming around the jutting cliff that separated the Coralreef beach from the rest of their territory. The tide was high, and strong, but there was no time to stop and think.
Greenpaw jumped in the water, taking care to keep the herbs in her mouth above the lapping water. It was very hard to do, in all honesty. When swimming in the ocean, a cat learns to use the waves to their advantage whenever possible, ducking under them and allowing them to push you toward your destination. This time, the waves were against her, and the crest of a wave was growing closer as she pushed and kicked toward the beach on the other side of the cliff.
Finally, her paws touched the hundreds of thousands of pebbles that blanketed the Coralreef beach shore. Drenched in the heavy saltwater, Greenpaw fought gravity to propel herself as quickly as she could to the cluster of cats nearing something on the shore.
Oh, no. Greenpaw thought to herself, stricken as she slowed her approach. We were too late.
But as she neared, and shouldered Sharkpaw and Riverpaw out of the way, it wasn't Twilightstar she saw. At least, not clearly. A lithe, silvery shape, drenched in saltwater, much like Greenpaw, was emerging from the water, her neck low. Greenpaw looked around the large, muscular shoulder of Hollowclaw in front of her, and saw the cat pulling a dark lump up the shore with her.
It was Twilightstar. And she wasn't moving.
Greenpaw felt the fear and confusion she scented from the SaltClan cats surrounding her envelope her in a temporary paralysis. She couldn't move, nor did any of the cats around her. They all stood together, shocked, and the unfamiliar cat heaved and pulled Twilightstar out of the way of the cresting waves, a trail of disturbed sand following them before waves washed it away.
It was at that moment the cats seemed to regain movement, Greenpaw included. While they shuffled about wildly, unsure of whether or not to approach her, the silver she-cat that had pulled Twilightstar from the water stood before them, green eyes peering uncertainly, back and forth to the group of cats to their unconscious leader.
Greenpaw suddenly found herself, pushing forward through the cats with the damp herbs in her mouth. She rushed forward, bounding to her leaders side. She dropped the herbs and stared at the she-cat silently, trying to calm the hysterics threatening to erupt.
The silver she-cat dipped her head to the herbs, and looked back at Greenpaw. Shaking her head furiously to clear it, Greenpaw picked the nettle stick leaf between her teeth, and tried to transfer it to Twilightstar's slack mouth. I don't know how to get her to swallow it, she thought wildly. My ignorance is going to kill Twilightstar!
"Twilightstar, no!" Greenpaw wailed, dropping close to the leader's head, pushing her nose against it hopelessly. "You can't leave me yet!"
At that moment, Twilightstar convulsed. Her shuddering body looked small, her short, black hair drenched. It looked even smaller as her body contracted, and a large stream of water sprouted from her open mouth. The she-cat's eyes were still closed, and her body shook one more time, a drizzle of water dripping down into the already wet sand, and her flank began to rise and fall with air.
She was alive.